Papal Republicani

The Republicani were a radical republican faction of politics in the Papal States that existed from 1848 to 1870. The most prominent Republicani were Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Aurelio Saffi, the founders of the short-lived Roman Republic in 1849. Mazzini, the father of the Roman Republic, was a fervent advocate of republicanism and supported a united, free, and independent Italy. He was vigorously opposed to Marxism and communism, rejecting the Marxist ideals of class struggle and idealism; however, he also rejected the classical liberal principles of the Enlightenment based on individualism. Mazzini supported a "humanitarian Catholicism", but he established himself as a major critic of the Catholic Church. The Roman Republic was put down after Pope Pius IX appealed for the French Second Republic's assistance, and the Republicani would be forced underground. They dissolved in 1870 after the Papal States were annexed by the Kingdom of Italy.